Thinking About Working Abroad? A Career Coach Says Don't Decide Just to Escape

This article was written by career coach Sunny. Sunny spent years working at multinational companies overseas and now lives in Hanoi, specializing in helping cross-border professionals make career decisions.
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Many people assume that working abroad will automatically level up their career. But as a career coach, I have seen too many people become even more lost after making the move.

Some end up regretting not "why didn't I go sooner" but rather "why did I think going abroad would fix everything."

Going abroad can be a solution, but it is not the only one

If someone wants to travel, they first need to think about what kind of experience they want — the Why and the What.

- How many people are going? Solo trip? With a partner? A family trip with kids?
- How much time do you have? A gap year? A short holiday for office workers?
- What is the budget? Backpacking on a shoestring? Best value for money? Or money is no object?
- What setting do you prefer? Nature? Food? History and culture?

Only after the desired experience is clear can you plan the journey — the How.

That is why posting "I want to go abroad, how should I plan?" online gets you a flood of wildly different advice. Everyone's answer depends on their own circumstances.

The same logic applies when someone asks "Should I work abroad?" What they are really expressing is not a question — it is anxiety with nowhere to go.

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Everyone has different priorities, different resources, and therefore different paths. What experience you want from your career is a question only you can answer.

Every choice is neither right nor wrong — as long as you know what you are choosing and are willing to own it.
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Want to go abroad? You need judgment, not just motivation

In three years as a career coach, having spoken with well over a hundred people, I have heard motivations like these:

- Things are not going well at my current job. Maybe a change of environment would help.
- The company culture is terrible. I hear management overseas is more open.
- The domestic market feels so small — I can see the ceiling. I want to break out.
- I am exhausted at work. I do so much but nobody notices. I need a bigger stage.

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Motivation answers: "What is wrong right now?"
But strong motivation never equals a clear path. These statements describe a current state, not a future direction.
Judgment asks a different question: "Where will this step actually take me?"
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- Role: In making this move, what role do I want to play? Who do I want to become? What kind of life do I want?
- Path: Is going abroad the best route toward that role and that life?
- Accumulation: Will this overseas experience give me something I can carry forward and build on?

Motivation reminds you to stop and think. But if you use it directly to make decisions, you might just be walking from one place that drains you to another that will drain you just as fast.

One client stands out. She had spent over five years at a well-known company in her industry. She said the job was suffocating and she wanted to start fresh somewhere new.

But after deeper conversation, she realized what was consuming her was not the work itself. It was the mandatory socializing, the bureaucracy, the rigid seniority culture — and she had built up severe burnout.

Staying meant playing by those rules to get promoted, or being sidelined. But she did not want to lose herself for a job.

So I asked: "It sounds like finding a company with the right culture would solve this. If that is the case, would you still want to go abroad?"

She hesitated.

Changing location usually changes how you feel, not the outcome

Moving somewhere new can bring temporary relief.

A new environment, a new rhythm — it can feel like you have finally left the place where you were stuck. But in career terms, a change of location often only affects feelings, rarely the underlying structure.

Because what truly determines your career trajectory comes down to three things:

- Where you are positioned in this move

No matter what country you are in, the market will label you.
If you have been jumping between jobs and playing marginal roles, that pattern will not change just because you moved abroad.

- Are your skills transferable, replicable, and cumulative?

For example, I spent ten years in commercial real estate in mainland China. When I moved to Vietnam and became a fully remote career coach, I had to assess which skills from my corporate years could transfer across industries and geographies.

And then, which skills I build as a remote career coach could open up new possibilities down the road.

- How will the market read this chapter of your story?

This hits hardest for Taiwanese expats on overseas assignments.
Beyond the Taiwanese identity and language environment, what advantage remains once the expat title is stripped away? Or do you end up trapped by the high expat salary — unable to leave, unable to go back?

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Moving to a new country might let you breathe. But only changing the structure will actually move your life forward.
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The key is not whether to go abroad, but honest self-inquiry

Whether it is Vietnam or any other country, it can be a great option.

For some people, it is even an essential career experience — it can bring different market perspectives, a different pace of life, and a chance to understand your position in an international context.

What truly needs examining is never "should I go abroad or not." The real question is: what do you want this step to replace?

If you just want to leave an environment that feels exhausting, limiting, or hopeless, then a change of location might ease the pressure temporarily.

But if you have not also figured out what role you want to build, what kind of skills you want to accumulate, and which path you want to follow — then no matter where you go, that feeling of "not knowing where I am headed" will likely just show up later.

So this article is not arguing against Vietnam, nor questioning the value of overseas assignments or cross-border work.

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What I really want to remind you of is just one thing: do not rush to make a decision based on "leaving where I am now" before you have figured out where you want to go.
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So if you have been going back and forth lately thinking "Should I go work abroad (in Vietnam or anywhere else)?" — instead of rushing to a conclusion, pause and ask yourself:

What do I hope going abroad will solve?

Is it leaving an exhausting environment? Escaping a path with no exit? Or do you just want to know if there are other possibilities out there?

Go one layer deeper: if the location stayed the same, what is the one thing I actually want to change?

These questions have no standard answers. But being honest with yourself is where finding the path begins.